The "new" Outlook for Windows app continues to add new features for users of the email app service in terms of improvements for accessibility and usability. Earlier this week, Microsoft revealed it is adding dictation improvements to the Outlook Windows app, and today it announced it is putting in some new keyboard shortcuts, along with a better screen reader feature.
In a blog post, Microsoft stated that some of the new keyboard shortcuts in Outlook for Windows include 'Ctrl+Y', which lets users switch between folders by typing in the first letter or number of that folder. Also, there's a new function for the 'Tab' key in the app's reading pane:
Previously, each time users pressed the ‘Tab’ key, focus would go to every button and link within the reading pane. Now, users can navigate the grouped elements by pressing the arrow keys and simply use the ‘Tab’ key to jump focus to different parts of the message.
Finally, Microsoft has changed the ‘Alt + Windows’ shortcut to launch the Ribbon key tips to just pressing the 'Alt' key to make it easier to discover for users.
Microsoft also announced it is working with third-party companies like Narrator, JAWS and NVDA to improve Outlook's screen reader features. The blog post states:
When opening an email to read, JAWS and NVDA now start automatically reading the whole message body aloud. Along with focusing the message body after opening an email, we have also enhanced the focus states following other commands. For example, after launching new Outlook or completing a search, the default focus is directly on the first item in the message list instead of the entire message list region.
Also, people who navigate Outlook with their keyboard and use the 'skip to’ links will now experience the focus turning to the message or message list item, which should help improve the keyboard experience with the app.
Microsoft says that in October it plans to add a feature that will let Outlook users navigate timeslots in the calendar grid with the arrow keys on the keyboard. It will also soon add support for using Narrator to automatically read an Outlook message
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